


It Is Possible For Even A Mouse To Confer Benefits On A Lion

by DamnItMish



Series: Jaime and Brienne's life on Tarth [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Braime Bunch, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Parenthood, Post-Canon Fix-It, Toddlers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 23:06:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18883075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DamnItMish/pseuds/DamnItMish
Summary: What happens if Jaime and Brienne's 2-year-old daughter gets lost on the castle grounds?





	It Is Possible For Even A Mouse To Confer Benefits On A Lion

  
After the war was over and the spring just around the corner, Jaime and Brienne had decided to retreat to Tarth. Jaime never regretted his decision to choose a quiet life over the adventurous life most knights were living. He didn't think he would enjoy the life as a Lord and truth be told most of the time he still isn't quite sure if he does enjoy it, but he knows, that he enjoys having a child he could actually claim as his own. He enjoys it now. Nevertheless, the first months had been tough for him. He fell back into his old habits of distancing himself from the child, just like Cersei forced him to when their children were born.  
Fortunately his wench is stubborn and demanded him to talk about what was worrying him. She understood. Of course, she did, she had always been one of the few people in this world who actually understood him and his actions. From that night onward she included him in the care of their baby girl more and more until he grew comfortable enough to break the old habit.  
Nowadays many men envy him for the relationship he has with his daughter and Jaime Lannister finally has an accomplishment he could be proud of. He loves Zera Johanna as fiercely as just a true Lion of Lannister could love.  
  
Zera is a quiet child, but full of life. She loves nothing more than to play in the wilderness, while being covered in dirt from head to toe. Jaime has to admit her running around with dirt on her face and clothes bothered him at first. He is a Lannister after all and so is she. His father and Maester taught him that it wasn’t proper for any highborn to walk around in dirty clothes, unless they were held prisoner or in the middle of a sword fight, but he learned quickly that he couldn’t tame the wilderness his child inherited from Brienne. Tradition generally wasn’t something his newfound family held dear, and he had known that when he married the Lady Knight.  
Therefore, he is used to letting Zera play outside and to let her play on the training yard in between all the young boys that struck each other with wooden swords, while Brienne kept watch over the boys as well as their daughter.  
  
Zera however clearly isn’t used to Jaime being with her and her father is clearly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of children around him. She’s too young to notice or care though, so she just aimlessly wanders around the training yard confused about the disturbance of her routine. Zera looks at her surroundings, quickly distracted by a cat that wanders off to some place Zera doesn’t recognize. The young lady doesn’t want the cat to leave, not without getting to pet it first, so she runs after it. The next time the girl actually focuses on something other than the cat, she doesn’t recognize her surroundings anymore. Her eyes desperately wander around to find anything familiar. She can’t seem to succeed. Zera’s wails can soon be heard, and she’s on the ground hiding her face in her hands. She doesn’t notice the whispers of the smallfolk around her. No one seems to dare to go near the Lord’s daughter.  
  
“Are you alright, milady? Did you lose the lord and lady of Tarth?”, Zera suddenly hears a boy ask, his voice barely above a whisper. He crouches next to her, his face has dirty streaks all over it and his hair is greasy.  
Zera looks up at him with wide eyes but new tears still trail down her cheeks, “How old are you, milady?”, Zera looks at him but sobs still rack her body, “I just had my 16th nameday, milady. I’m working in your Lord Fathers stables. Do you like horses, milady?”, the boy asks.  
Zera’s eyes spark, as soon as she hears him talk of the horses. She nods her head and tries to adjust her fingers in the right position to show him her age. Her sobs have stopped in favour of the concentrated look on her face.  
  
The boy lets out a relieved breath as soon as the young lady stops crying. He could feel eyes on him and lots of them. His hand is shaking, clearly a sign as to how distressed he really is. Is he afraid of the Lord of Tarth formerly known as Kingslayer? Of course, he is, but that wasn’t enough to stop him from helping a scared child. Apart from her name, that is actually all the young lady is. His fear is also calmed down a bit by his trust in Lady Brienne. He had looked up to her ever since he was the young lady’s age. He knows her tales by heart, and he is sure she wouldn’t let her Lord husband hurt him. Everyone among the smallfolk has been scared of the new Lord ever since he set foot on the island. The boy personally had never met the man, despite working with the Lord’s horses on a daily basis. Many had questioned the new Lord’s relationship with their Lady, many still do to this day. Some even doubted if he was the young lady’s biological father. The stable boy couldn’t understand why, he saw the Lord’s face staring back at him with the eyes of the Lady Brienne.  
  
“I can help you find your parents, milady.”, he offers and soon the young lady is hugging him close. He is sure, he will lose at least his position in the stable for touching the young lady, even if it wasn’t his choice. The new Lord might not care about his choices. He still doesn’t push the child away, somehow she trusts him enough to be a comfort and he will not betray her trust like that.  
Instead, he picks her up and tries to find someone, who can help him to get her back to her parents. Shocked eyes around him still following his every move.  
  
Jaime runs around the castle grounds, panic-stricken and his eyes full of guilt, “Zera!”, he shouts. He doesn’t know where to look for her, she could be anywhere by now. He hadn’t even seen her leave the training yard, “Zera!”, he shouts again. He had felt like crying ever since he noticed that Zera wasn’t anywhere to be seen anymore, but he tried to be strong for his daughter. Jaime falls to his knees when he can’t hold his sobs back any longer.  
Then he hears a small voice in front of him “Mi- Milord.”, the boy stutters and Jaime takes a first look at him just to see his daughter in the boy’s arms. Relief washes over Jaime and he stands up so fast he almost feels dizzy.  
“Zera, are you alright?”, he asks and takes the small child from the boy. Jaime hugs his daughter close and kisses her face so often that she starts to giggle in his arms, “I was so worried about you, Paws.”, she giggles again as soon as she hears her nickname, “What happened?”  
  
Jaime is sure she will not answer his question, she does not speak much after all. She actually speaks far less than any of Cersei’s children did at her age. Brienne did not seem too worried though, when he brought up the topic in conversation a few moons ago, so he tries not to worry either. “Cat.”, he hears her delicate voice answer his question much to his surprise.  
“You saw a cat?”, he assumes that’s what Zera is trying to say. She nods and adds, “Horse?”  
  
“You went to see the horses?”, he keeps trying to solve what happened. His daughter rolls his eyes at him.  
  
The boy, that brought Zera is clearing his throat awkwardly now and opens his mouth to say something, but no sound leaves his mouth. Jaime knows that look on his face. He would recognize the fear of the Kingslayer anywhere.  
After his failed attempt to speak, the boy finally gets some words out, “I- I found her and uhm… she was crying.”, he loses his breath for a second before hastily finishing, “I asked her some questions but she wouldn’t answer any of them, so uhm… I asked if she liked horses, milord.”, he looks at Jaime, the fear still apparent in his eyes. Silence followed his story before the boy adds quietly, “Many kids like horses, milord.”  
  
Jaime’s look falls to the boy’s hands, they’re shaking so much you could almost call it violently. Jaime knows how scared most people, especially the smallfolk are of him, he doesn’t like it, but there hasn’t been much opportunity to change it, “Thank you.”, Jaime just says, his voice as gentle as it is genuine.  
  
The boy’s eyes widen, shock written all over his dirt covered face. Jaime hadn’t noticed how much dirt is on the boy until now, “What’s your name, boy?”, he asks.  
  
“Milan, milord.”, Milan answers.  
  
“What is it you do every day, Milan?”, Jaime says to keep the conversation going.  
  
“I’m working in your stables, milord.”, Milan answers, his eyes haven’t met Jaime’s once. He looks at his own feet or shoots quick glances at Jaime’s chest every time he answers a question.  
  
“Would you mind showing my daughter the horses?”, Jaime asks tentatively, “She loves animals and I assume you can tell her more about the horses, than I ever could. I will go with you of course, but you would therefore do most of the talking.”  
  
Milan’s eyes meet Jaime’s for the first time, the surprise apparent in them, “Of course, Milord. It’d be my honour to tell the young lady all about the horses.”, Jaime sees him swallowing nervously.  
  
“Her name is Zera.”, Jaime declares before heading to the stables, “Use it.”, he knows his peace offering sounds more like a threat, but he can’t help it.  
  
“Of course, Milord.”, the boy follows him swiftly to the stables.  
  
Once they reach the stables, Zera’s face lights up like a lantern and Jaime was sure she had never seen her so happy before. Milan also has a soft smile on his face and the fear in his eyes seems to be gone, as long as he looks at the happy girl in front of him.  
“Do you want to pet the horses, Mil- Zera?”, Milan asks the girl tentatively and looks at Jaime for approval, Jaime isn’t sure if it’s for using her name instead of Milady or for her to pet the horses., but he nods either way.  
  
“What do you call my horse?”, Jaime asks Milan while letting his daughter pet his horse. Milan looks surprised again, so Jaime adds, “I never name my horse. It wasn’t practical during the war and old habits die hard. I’m sure you have a name in mind, when you tend to my horse. What is it?”  
  
“I call him Luken, Milord.”, Milan answers. Jaime can hear Zera’s faint whisper of pronouncing the name. Jaime doesn’t know how that simple stable boy makes his daughter talk but he is very grateful nonetheless.  
  
“Why?”, Jaime questions. He can’t remember having ever heard that name before.  
  
“It was my grandfather’s name. It means ‘Light’ according to my grandmother.”, Milan says and his eyes sadden by the word. When he keeps speaking his eyes lose some sadness and a soft smile plays on his lips, “When I was offered to be your stable boy, it was the first time I saw the light again in many years, Milord.”  
Jaime tightens the grip on his daughter. He can only assume what the boy had been through and he suddenly felt the need to protect not only his daughter but also help the boy, “How old are you?”  
  
“Last month was my 16th nameday, Milord.”, Jaime let his look slide to the boy’s hands again, which were now busy also stroking the horse, steady without any signs of the violent shaking from before.  
  
“Would you mind, if we visited you in the stables more often, Milan?”, Jaime suggests and hears his daughter pronounce ‘Milan’ in a hushed voice without any signs of struggle. Milan apparently heard it too as he looks at Zera with a soft smile on his face.  
  
“It would be my honour, Milord.”, Milan answers and watches how Jaime shifts Zera in his arms, so she can’t stroke the horse anymore. Zera protests meekly but gives in without any further struggle.  
  
“Thank you again for bringing Zera to me. I am forever in your debt.”, Jaime considers telling him, that a Lannister always pays his debts but decides against reminding the boy of his heritage, “We look forward to visiting you again soon.”, Jaime nods at him again and gives him a brief smile. He hears his daughter speak a soft, “Bye, Bye, Milan.” before leaving the stables.  
  
As Jaime and Brienne lay in bed that evening, wrapped around each other, Jaime can’t help but feel the guilt rise in his chest again, “I lost Zera today.”, he says as if to remind Brienne of the fact.  
  
“I know Jaime, you already told me.”, Brienne frowns, “Are you starting to forget things, old man?”, she teases, trying to cheer him up.  
  
“What kind of father loses his own daughter?”, Jaime asks, pain clear in his voice. Brienne kisses his forehead softly and gently reminds him, “Remember that time, when I lost her in the forest? You told me then, it’s her wild nature and that it’s hart to tame. The same thing applies to you, Jaime.”, Jaime’s face softens and the pain on his face lessens visibly. He kisses her softly and whispers, “I’m so grateful for my little family, wench.”, Brienne smirks at the nickname, “I’m also really grateful for the stable boy.”  
  
Brienne frowns again, expressing her confusion, “He found Zera and brought she back to me.”, Jaime explains and nuzzles Brienne’s neck, “She talked so much, when he was around, wench. She said ‘horse’ and ‘cat’ and ‘Luken’ and ‘Bye, Bye, Milan’. That’s his name.”, he adds and smiles into her neck.  
  
“The stable boy can make our daughter talk?”, Brienne laughs and adds, “Your father must be turning in his grave.”  
  
“I married the first female knight of Westeros and refused Casterly Rock in favor of Tarth, so that ship has sailed long ago, wench.”, Jaime chuckles as he faces his wife again and kisses her forehead, “When the boy first came to me, Zera in his arms, he was so scared. He was shaking.”, Jaime said, his tone switching back into serious territory, “He did me a favour and was still scared of me.”  
  
“If you tried to ease his fear and thanked him, that’s really all you can do, Jaime.”, Brienne assures him.  
  
“I know.”, Jaime sighs and explains further, “I even asked him to show Zera the horses and told him to call her Zera. Calling a two-year-old child ‘Milady is ridiculous.”, Brienne laughs again and silently thanks all the gods that Jaime seems to finally see her reasoning behind her aversion to traditions, “I asked if we could visit him in the stables more often. He agreed.”, Jaime smiled brightly at her, “And my horse has a name now. Luken. Milan picked it.”  
  
“Glad, you two made a friend.”, Brienne smirks and cuddles further into her husbands chest, “How old is he?”  
  
“Just celebrated his 16th nameday, I believe.”, Jaime answered and pulled her closer after putting his right arm around her. Brienne had never been disgusted by his stump as Cersei had been, therefore he stopped wearing his golden hand inside the castle, “We should sleep, my lady.”, Jaime whispers, “Paws will be up before dawn again, I presume.”, Brienne smiles softly at the nickname Jaime frequently used for their daughter. Zera had always been a little obsessed with animals and with cats being the only living animal inside their castle, she had grown especially fond of the creatures. Jaime had used every opportunity to try and teach her new words, when she hadn’t spoken her first word within the first 18 moons of her life, so he jumped at the chance to name every bodypart the cat possesses. As a result, “Paws” was their daughter’s first word and a nickname that would probably stick forever.

Jaime and Zera become regular visitor in the stables after that. On their first visit Zera is still mostly focused on the horse in front of her. She still repeats more words than before, but she other than that doesn’t pay too much attention to Milan himself. Jaime on the other hand asks the boy a lot of questions and his heart sinks when he hears that the boy was in fact orphaned and also lost his beloved grandparents when he was just a boy.

Their second visit starts with Zera struggling until Jaime puts her on the ground, so she can run to Milan and hug his legs, while squealing his name. Milan talks to Zera much more than to Jaime that day, but Jaime doesn’t mind just watching the two interact.

That evening Jaime has a first conversation with Brienne about Milan’s future. She suggests making him a squire, but the thought doesn’t sit right with Jaime.

He does suggest it to Milan, the next time they see him though. Milan reacts the way Jaime had secretly hoped he would. He tells him that he wasn’t interested in becoming a knight, but he would to it if Jaime thought it would be good for him. Jaime doesn’t think it would be good for him at all. He’s way too caring to become a proper knight and Jaime doesn’t want the boy to lose his empathy like most knights did.

Roughly a moon and several visits later, when it gets to the point that Zera asks about Milan at least once a day, Brienne finally suggests a future for the boy, that Jaime feels a lot better about, than he did about him becoming a squire, so Jaime promises himself to ask the boy about it on their next visit.

When they reach the stable for said next visit, Jaime lets Zera run ahead, because he definitely knows, she wouldn’t trade her visit to the stables and more importantly Milan for anything else. Once he reaches the stables he sees Zera already settled on Milans hip, babbling excitedly. Most of her babbles are still incomprehensible, but Milan pays attention to her babbles as if he understands everything she says. All Jaime catches is ‘milk’, ‘fruit’ and ‘Tyrion’. He assumes she tries to tell him about breakfast and the fact that her Uncle announced his next visit in the last letter he wrote. 

“Have you two finished your conversation then?”, Jaime asks once his daughters babble comes to a halt and Milan answered accordingly, the amusement clear in his voice.

“You’ll have to ask your daughter, Milord.”, Milan says, smiling brightly at Jaime as Zera winds her arms around Milan’s neck and lets her head fall on his shoulder, “Did Zera have her nap today?”, he asks and Jaime smiles to himself, noticing that the Milord went missing at the end of most sentences these days.

“Paws was too excited to come here to nap.”, Jaime explains and suggests, “Why don’t we leave the stables today? Maybe we could take a little walk.”

Milan’s eyes widen in surprise, clearly caught off guard by his suggestion, due to the fact that they never spent their visits outside the stables, “It would be my pleasure.”, Milan concludes.

Zera looks up at Jaime with tired eyes but let’s her head lull back onto the boy’s shoulder as they start walking towards the castle.

“I can take her. I know, she can get heavy after a while, especially as sleepy as she is right now.”, Jaime offers but Milan just smile’s fondly and politely declines.

“Have you even been inside a castle?”, Jaime asks once they reach the door, “I’m sure it can seem quite daunting.”, Jaime adds.

“I haven’t been inside a castle.”, Milan says and his eyes flicker between Jaime and the door, “Why are we here, Milord?”, Milan asks, carefully shifting a sleeping Zera in his arms.

“My offer still stands, Milan. I’m a strong man, I can carry her, even with only one hand left.”, Jaime chuckles and Milan reluctantly agrees to let Jaime carry Zera, “You’re good with her. You have been since the minute you came into our lives.”

“Thank you, Milord.”, Milan says and watches as Jaime walks through the big heavy door. Milan just stands there, not sure what to do.

“Are you coming?”, Jaime asks, smirking as the boy enters the home of his little family. Milan’s eyes are wide and getting wider with every corridor they pass. As they enter the dining hall, a voice interrupts his wonder, “You must be Milan, I heard a lot about you.”, Lady Brienne says, suddenly standing before him, “Thank you, for taking care of Zera and showing her around the stables.”, her smile is warm and genuine.

“My pleasure, Milady.”, Milan says breathless, clearly nervous, “Thank you for trusting me to do so.”

Brienne smiles at him again and turns her attention to her husband, “Shall I take her to her chambers?”, she asks and Jaime hand the sleeping child over to her, “I will leave you two alone, you have things to discuss, I presume.”, she concludes and leaves the dining hall.

“Are you hungry, Milan?”, Jaime asks and gestures for the boy to sit, “Lunch will be served soon. You are welcome to stay if you want to. Maybe you can take a bath in our bathhouse first though.”, Jaime adds. Milan just looks at him with wide eyes, so Jaime keeps talking, “I brought you here to make you an offer. My wife and I discussed this at length and we decided we would be happy to have you as a nursemaid.”, Jaime explains, “Your task would be to look after Zera and do whatever that contains. In return, you get a chamber in our home and be apart of our meals every day and of course we will pay you graciously.”

Milan’s eyes fill with tears, “It would be my honor to be your nursemaid.”, Jaime can see a flicker of doubt in the boy’s eyes before he continues to speak, “Doesn’t it bother you, that I’m not a girl? And not of highborn nature?”

“In this house, we don’t care much for Tradition.”, Jaime shrugs and smiles at their new nursemaid.

 


End file.
